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by Michael D. Sellersfor MovieBank and Quantum Entertainment Following are the first reviews for Carly Schroeder’s Gracie! From Hollywood Reporter. (click for full review)Whether striding onto the field past a gaggle of cheerleaders or flirting her way past a bouncer, Schroeder (“Lizzie McGuire”) is a natural as Gracie, whose athleticism and self-respect are inseparable facets of extraordinary inner resources.From LA Citybeat (click for full review)The great revelation here, however, is Schroeder, who comes on like a fireball and never lets up.From Compuserve Reviews. (click for full review)Where did Carly Schroeder come from? ….. The sixteen-year-old Indiana-born beauty who could pass for a young Blythe Danner or Elizabeth Shue does her own stunts in David Guggenheim’s family-friendly inspirational movie “Gracie.” She can do a lot more chins and push-ups than I could (even when I was sixteen), can take more beatings and bloody noses than a lot of men would be willing to accommodate, can kick the ball farther, run faster, and do all of that without even flicking her long blonde hair from in front of her eyes. ..the vivacious Ms. Schroeder, pouting, smiling, laughing, seductive, frightened, insecure, combative, displaying the range of emotions typical of women her age, makes watching the film quite worthwhile whatever your age.From CHUD.com. (click for full review)Carly Schroeder is Gracie, and she makes the film. She’s unusually beautiful – her hair is so blonde as to be almost white, and her skin seems translucent. She has a stronger jaw and a wider nose than you might expect from a teen starlet, but it works for her. Her face is distinctive, not like the cookie cutter girls who roll off of sitcoms and tween films, and I hope that she never goes under the knife to tweak that nose into a tiny button. It’s her eyes that sell the character, though, especially since Gracie is so often sullen. Schroeder’s a terrific young actress…..From Reelviews. (click for full review)Carly Schroeder, hitherto known primarily for a recurring role on TV’s Lizzie McGuire (she was also in Mean Creek, where she first caught my attention), shows that, given the spotlight, she possesses the intensity to hold it. She invests Gracie with heart, beauty, and determination. Schroeder took this role seriously, training to make the experience real for the character, and it works. No one threatens to steal scenes from Schroeder.From Grouchoreviews. (click for full review)Carly Schroeder gives a fierce performance as Gracie, whose family suffers a communal depression after a tragic accident. The emotional beats of Gracie’s acting out and her father’s inability to embrace and capitalize on the present are believable and surprisingly nuanced.From Clarion Ledger (click for full review)Schroeder (cable’s Lizzie McGuire) is absolutely terrific as a young teen spinning out of control. You don’t know whether to hug her or give her a swift kick.
by Michael D. Sellers Every independent producer who is trying to garner investment for his project inevitably cites “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” and “Blair Witch” as examples of what can happen to a small film that strikes the right chord with audiences. And this is understandable — after all, that’s the pot of gold that we’re all trying to win. But clearly you can’t build a business model based on the exceptions to the rule – -you must be able to have a model that makes sense at something lower than the “breakout hit” level.So I want to provide some reference points for you to keep in mind as we work our way toward the release of Eye of the Dolphin and our future projects.Let’s start with some numbers for the year 2006.620 — Number of Films Released Theatrically in the US$15M — Average Theatrical GrossNot bad so far, right? If we could just hit the “average”……read on.210 — Number of films with $1M or more theatrical gross420 — Number of films with less than $1M theatrical gross?Yes, that’s right. 2 out of 3 films released made less than $1M at the box office. Some other stats — though:Of the 620 films released, 440 were in “limited release” of 300 of these never played more than 10 theaters. Thus when we parse it down to this level, we see that a lot of those 420 that made less than $1m only played on a handful of theaters. So it’s not as bad as it seems.I will add more to this post later…..
(From the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation)Four films have been selected for presentation as part of the Sloan Science and Technology Series at Tribeca, which spotlights festival films that tackle scientific subject matter in a compelling and accurate fashion. Sloan will co-present four world premieres during the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival – Michael Sellers’ Eye of the Dolphin, the Dara Bratt directed student short In Vivid Detail, Randall Millers’ Nobel Son and Fredi M. Murer’s Vitus and a discussion as part of the Tribeca Talks panel series. Sloan’s partnership with Tribeca forms part of a broader national program by the SloanFoundation to stimulate leading artists in film, television and theater to create more realistic and compelling stories about science and technology and to challenge existing stereotypes about scientists and engineers in the popular imagination.Eye of the Dolphin is a touching family story about a 14 year-old girl named Alyssa who moves to the Bahamas with the father she never knew. Although it is a rocky start for the two, Alyssa soon embraces her father’s profession as a dolphin researcher and discovers she shares some of his talents. The film premieres Thursday, April 26, 7:00 pm, at the AMC Village VII Theater.In Vivid Detail follows the life of Justin, an architect who suffers from prosopagnosia, a neurological disorder that makes him incapable of recognizing faces. An unusual love story ensues. The film stars John Ventimiglia and Piper Perabo and was funded in part by a production grant from the Sloan Foundation’s program with NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. The film will premiere as part of Express Stops Only, a shorts program, on Sunday April 29th at 2pm at Borough of Manhattan Community College.About the Alfred P. Sloan FoundationThe New York based Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, founded in 1934, makes grants in science, technology and the quality of Americn life. Sloan’s program in public understanding of science and technology, directed by Doron Weber, supports books, radio, film, television, theater and the Internet to reach a wide, non-specialized audience.Sloan’s partnership with Tribeca forms part of a broader national program by the Sloan Foundation to stimulate leading artists in film, television and theater to create more realistic and compelling stories about science and technology and to challenge existing stereotypes about scientists and engineers in the popular imagination. Over the past ten years, Sloan has partnered with six of the top film schools in the country—AFI, Carnegie Mellon, Columbia, NYU, UCLA and USC—and established annual awards in screenwriting and film production. In addition Sloan makes annual awards in film animation and a first feature after graduation. In addition to the Tribeca/Sloan Screenplay Development Program, the Foundation has initiated screenwriting workshops at Sundance and the Hamptons and also honored new feature films such as the forthcoming Dark Matter and Darren Aronofsky’s The Fountain
